novelraw #207 - Section 207
#207 - Section 207
Roger frowned, "Are you threatening me with this again?"
He said calmly, "Dio helping you was contingent on you delivering breakfast every day. Have you calculated how many meals you owe?"
Margaret immediately protested, "Is it that I don't want to deliver them?"
Roger sneered, "Is it that he doesn't want to help?"
"This... of course, I understand he has his difficulties..." Margaret softened her tone. "How about I deliver breakfast to you every day too?"
And then you'd have an extra free chat partner, right?
"Sorry, I refuse." Roger was very decisive. He didn't want to comfort a lonely little devil. "Remember you owe me a promise, to do it as much as possible without harming Her Majesty."
"Okay, as long as it doesn't harm Her Majesty, I will fulfill your promise," Margaret agreed.
Although this deal was a bit of a loss, it was worth it to avoid facing that terrifying witch!
The two then parted ways. Margaret went to persuade Shark, while Roger headed to the Mystical Arts Society, to a mage tower of the same level as the Chapter of Discord, called "The Rite of Life."
The owner of this magic tower was Lydia, the second chief magical advisor of the Mystical Arts Society, and also the personal physician of the Eternal Night Empress.
The Empress's health problems were alleviated by Lydia, which allowed the Empress to survive to the later stages of the plot.
Although many events that damaged the Eternal Night Empress's lifespan had not yet occurred, the hidden dangers she left behind in order to grow rapidly had already accumulated.
"The Rite of Life" magic tower was designed by Lydia and was an experimental sanctuary for the most powerful schools of transformation, potion-making, and druidism in the empire. It was also a super-giant magical ritual.
It bound the Eternal Night Empress's body to the empire's destiny, ensuring that if her lifespan ran out and the empire had not fallen, her body would always maintain peak activity.
Naturally, this was another wonder-class building.
Lydia was a veteran legend of the empire and had made countless contributions. For example, the Mocha project was not only due to the alchemists of the Chapter of Discord; Lydia's technical support in potion-making was also indispensable.
However, her reputation had always been poor, and she was known as the "Biochemical Witch."
Because she always used unscrupulous means to do experiments, there were many actions that even magicians considered crazy. She was also self-willed and unwilling to explain, giving people a rather terrifying image.
Frankenstein mechanized himself, and the magicians could accept it normally, but Lydia was someone that the magician community carefully kept their distance from, which showed how terrifying this lady was most of the time.
But she didn't care. As long as she could explore in her favorite field and the funding was sufficient every year, she didn't care about other people's evaluations at all.
After the introduction of "New Arcana," her imagination was also opened up, giving her the opportunity to do some very dangerous experiments.
For example, the test tube she gave Sophie, that green worm with extremely strong vitality and parasitic properties, was fully named "Dagon Immune Cell Carcinization Type XII."
In other words, it was actually a somatic cell of an ancient demon god that was stimulated by Lydia to become cancerous, and then magically modified with a bunch of attributes, and finally created into a terrifying biochemical weapon.
Its targeted aggressiveness did show the characteristics of immune cells, but that combat power was definitely not something a normal system could present, not even a god could.
In the equipment catalog she provided to the military, there were quite a few imaginative projects.
Roger was very optimistic about the virtual magic god project, and Lydia also provided a lot of help.
However, she herself did not participate. The Biochemical Witch always had her own subject to complete. She casually completed the scientific research tasks assigned to her by the empire, and freely flew on her own curiosity.
For such a unique talent, Roger felt that he needed to have a good talk, which might give him some inspiration.
Chapter 184: The Mystery of Magical Talent
The Rite of Life was much larger in area than the Chapter of Discord.
Because biological research required many places for pastures and cultivation, and the healthy growth of experimental subjects also required enough mice.
Therefore, the Rite of Life was directly cut from a corner of the continent from a dead world, and at this moment, it was a giant island floating in the astral world.
In the cloudless sky of the giant island, there was a small island floating, which was the core magic tower of the Rite of Life, and also where the Biochemical Witch Lydia was located.
Roger was directly brought to the core tower area by Lydia's first assistant.
As soon as he stepped on it, he felt like he was being stared at by countless eyes, many of which were full of malicious exploration.
The assistant felt the change in his face and said in surprise, "Sir Charles has very high mental strength. The sky here is actually also a breeding ground, with many strange astral creatures. But don't worry, they are usually locked in folded space, only their mental power can penetrate."
"The fact that they can project their consciousness here even after being in folded space means they are powerful existences..."
Roger was still very uneasy and could only quickly enter the warm white, seemingly very cozy magic tower in front of him.
"Those who are not strong enough have no meaning for experimentation," the assistant comforted him. "Don't worry, they usually don't break out of prison."
"Then... what if?"
"Then kill them."
The assistant showed an extremely confident smile and patted the saber at her waist.
Roger then realized that this assistant, who introduced herself as a therapist, was carrying a very heavy-looking saber.
But if she was a doctor, it was normal to be good at swordsmanship, right?
Especially since the targets she had to deal with were those powerful astral creatures, alien demons, etc., right?
He nodded in self-comfort and didn't explore too much... or rather, didn't dare to.
But with such an assistant leading him through the corridor with strange specimens, his courage gradually grew.
As expected of the Biochemical Witch's territory, even a random assistant looks very simple.
With such a guide, even if the eyeballs soaking in the jar suddenly blinked, I wouldn't be so afraid!
To be honest, from the moment he entered here, he had the illusion that he had traveled from a magical world to a spiritual world.
Fortunately, Lydia's office was still bright and clean, and the artificial sunlight pouring in from the window instantly warmed his body.
If the one chatting with him... wasn't a pot of flowers.
This pot of flowers placed on the luxurious desk had no leaves, only a sunflower-like disc, with "melon seeds" flashing red light on it, and then forming an emoticon through the flickering:
(￣▽￣)／
Was this a flower's enthusiastic welcome?
Roger really suspected that this Biochemical Witch had turned the sunflower into an LED dot matrix screen, and the flower disc was a bit scary when it suddenly turned to him.
Roger sat on the chair that the assistant pulled out, holding the tea that he handed over, looking at the strange pink liquid... and didn't dare to drink it directly.
He asked the flower uncertainly, "Ms. Lydia?"
"It's me, Lord Charles, don't be surprised, this is my improved mind projection grass."
A hoarse and seductive mature female voice sounded, "As long as the main body is planted in the body, a flower will bloom every three days. It can communicate and chat in real time without distance in the same world. If you need it, you can take away some seeds. It can greatly improve work efficiency!"
After she finished speaking, the emoticon on the flower disc also changed to ヽ(^_–)ノ, seeming very proud of her invention.
Roger: ???
Who would dare to plant such a thing on their body casually!
If it couldn't control itself and sucked me dry, wouldn't I become a large flower pot?
Remembering the horror of the Dagon cancerous cells, Roger declined Lydia's proposal with a wry smile, although this was her way of expressing friendship and generosity.
But just like Frankenstein persuading people to ascend mechanically, he couldn't accept this operation of planting plants in his body either.
To be cautious, it's best not to touch anything in this magic tower casually...
He didn't dwell too much on this mind projection grass, quickly changed the subject, and earnestly asked, "Ms. Lydia, I'm here this time to ask about the foundation of our casting magic, using body structure to analyze talent. What progress have you made now?"
"I didn't expect Lord Charles to be interested in this aspect... No, you are a genius who created 'New Arcana', it's normal to think about these basic questions."
Lydia's voice suddenly became more energetic, seeming to like this topic very much, "Regarding the relationship between the human body and magic, it is indeed the direction I have been exploring. Thanks to the progress of arcane equipment, more detailed signals have been detected, and I have determined the fundamental source of casting magic."
She asked the assistant to turn off the lights in the office, and through a large magic projection, presented Roger with a picture that was almost no different from the human cell structure on Earth.
Most intelligent life in this world, including humans, are still carbon-based creatures. They are not as bizarre as elemental life. The basis of their body structure is still one cell after another.
The same goes for long-lived species.
It's just that their cell metabolism frequency is slower. The extension of lifespan by professionals does not fundamentally change this cell structure.
Through the fusion of magic and technology, those magicians at the forefront have long mastered more detailed cell structures. Cell membranes, nuclei, cytoplasm, and a series of organelles are not much different from those of humans on Earth.
However, the human body in this world does not have mitochondria, but an additional organ called the "magic core" completes oxidation and energy supply.
"With the improvement of magic observation accuracy, we have now locked the root of the magician's talent, which is this small organelle. The resonance coefficient between the magic core and magic power can determine an individual's magical talent."
Lydia recounted the exploration at the forefront of the mysteries of life.
Even the Eternal Night Empress doesn't always have the patience to listen to these purely theoretical studies.
The empire at this stage is more focused on research that can bring practical production value. Lydia's exploration is to operate the Rite of Life to obtain profits, invest in the fields she is interested in, and continue to research to get conclusions.
Because of the virtual magic god project, Roger invested some of the Dark Guard's funding and some of the funds from Terra Investment into Lydia's research.
This is why she generously shared the top-secret knowledge with Roger.
Because, he is the sugar daddy!
Roger listened very carefully. Except for the final formula that determined talent that he couldn't understand, Lydia's lecturing level was simple and easy to understand.
It seemed that she often popularized science to dignitaries to fool more funding.
It's normal. As a doctor and a magic potion expert, it's easier for her to contact rich people, and it's entirely predictable to get more funding from them to support her dreams.
Learning that the magic core was the key to the caster's talent, Roger asked, "Can you artificially create magic cores with higher talents, or use alchemical equipment to replace it?"
"Yes, it is not difficult to modify talent through magical means, but the upper limit of modification is very high and the success rate is very low. This cannot become my conventional war method, nor can I provide artificial powerhouses in batches." Lydia frankly told Roger that the prospect in this area was not good.
This was also a project that the Eternal Night Empress hoped she would promote. In the end, it may be that the empire's current technology level was not enough to directly improve a person's magic talent by modifying their magic core.
Roger recorded it, and changing magical talent by implanting a magic core could serve as a kind of system reward.
Then he asked, "If it's not very high talent, just the most basic sense of magic? That is, you don't need to drive it, you just need to sense the existence of magic. How much can the cost of such a magic core be reduced to?"
"Sorry, we have not done any experiments in this area. This low-level magic talent has no practical significance." The sunflower showed a confused expression.
─━_─━?
"How long does a simple attempt take?" Roger insisted on asking.
"Two hours? If you want to know the results now, I can arrange for my subordinates to try."
Roger nodded, "Then please arrange it for me, Ms. Lydia."
The sunflower was silent for a moment. Obviously, she was just being polite, but Roger really arranged things.
But the sugar daddy has the right to be willful, and Lydia quickly agreed to believe it.
Roger smiled, "Then let's discuss the military's procurement contract. Are there any modifications to the equipment you provide, as well as the current cost and transaction price..."
He also had to complete the task for Margaret.
Roger himself was actually looking forward to the performance of Lydia's creations, and felt that they might have advantages on some battlefields that alchemical equipment could not match.
The people of the empire did not like these uncontrollable and scary magic-modified creatures, especially the Eternal Night Empress, who rejected the use of equipment provided by Lydia in the regular army sequence.
But after Roger saw its power, he felt that Lydia's creations had reached a certain level, and there was great potential to be tapped.
While waiting for the experimental results, Roger and Lydia had a very friendly and imaginative exchange.
The magic-modified creatures that Lydia could currently provide to the Sea Country were a series. They could collect plankton in the sea to quickly reproduce and grow "base corals", combined with "suicide fish" that grew up eating this coral, with different models and attributes, and had a wide range of adaptability in underwater combat.
Through the modification of different cells, the suicide fish could have many differences in speed, volume, and explosion attributes.
Such as corrosiveness, such as freezing, such as burning, such as magic interference, and stealth, etc.
There were also suicide fish that directly exploded an indescribable area, and entering it would constantly drop san and hear the words of demons in their ears.
Lydia said their purpose was to cover the retreat.
Roger felt they were more suited for suicide.
Anyway, they were experimental equipment. Many of the creatures Lydia and her subordinates, those mages who collected strange organisms from all over the universe, had modified could no longer be described as 'fish'.
Roger and Lydia were discussing what more creativity could be put into these self-detonating fish, as well as the export price of these equipment.
Lydia was quite happy that someone liked her equipment.
Originally, the military's attitude towards the catalog she submitted was just to perfunctorily give it a try, to prove that the Empire had invested in this area, without really intending to use it.
She didn't expect Roger to provide her with a special session. This time, the equipment to support the Sea Clan, everything else was just an extra, the focus was on testing her base coral.
In return, Lydia readily adopted the design requirements that Roger provided through brainstorming.
After a conversation, both host and guest were happy, and they didn't feel the passage of time at all.
Having experienced countless games and fantasy texts, using various bizarre mechanisms from them to make deductions, combined with Lydia's super biological modification ability, they created a bunch of outrageous self-detonating fish.